


Sleeping Alone

by Anonymous



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26104279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Kili has been waiting for Fili to leave for college for weeks, years. But then he learns that he really hates sleeping alone.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25
Collections: GatheringFiKi - Secret Admirers 2020





	Sleeping Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LegolasLovely](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegolasLovely/gifts).



Kili was surprised to learn that he missed Fili that first night. He had been counting down the days until Fili left for college almost more eagerly than Fili himself. Kili could not wait to have the room to himself. He was excited to have some privacy. He would be able to stay up as late as he wanted without Fili launching pillows in his direction and bitching at him, telling him to “go the fuck to bed already.”

Kili stayed up past midnight. He was as loud as he wanted to be (within reason, of course, his mother was sleeping just down the hall). But when he finally climbed into his bed he discovered that the room was quiet.

It was too quiet.

It took him a while to figure out that he was missing the sound of Fili’s breathing, the rustle of blankets, and his occasional, and, thankfully, short lived snores.

After a few nights he downloaded a white noise app and played it when he went to bed. He was not sure if it worked, but he thought that he tossed and turned less so he kept using it.

By mid-September he began counting the days until Fili came home for fall break.

He stopped listening after he mother said “he’s not coming home for his break,” because Kili really did not care why Fili was not coming home, if it was homework, car troubles, or new friends.

Kili just missed his brother and wanted him to come home.

They texted occasionally. More than once Kili had woken up to find a half-drunk voicemail in his box, a butt-dial of a party, or a blurry and dark video of some house with Greek letters on the walls.

It was not the same.

Fili did not have a choice about coming home for Thanksgiving. The dorms closed and the cafeterias shut their doors.

Kili slept the best he had in months.

Then Fili went back to school.

Kili got very little sleep Sunday night and he was dragging his feet at school. He even nodded off during art class. He hand slipping on his face and leaving a dark smear of charcoal across his cheek.

That night he crawled in Fili’s bed.

He buried his face in Fili’s pillow and fell asleep almost instantly.

Fili was home a few days before Christmas and Kili monopolized his time. Over Thanksgiving break Fili had cloistered himself in the den and had surrounded himself with books, notebooks and his laptop. He had slouched deep into the sofa and only moved to stumble into the kitchen for more caffeine or when he finally decided to go to bed. Now there was no homework to get in the way.

The family sat up in the living room buried beneath afghans that had piled up over the generations, sipping hot spiced wine or cider, chatting, and laughing the the dim light emitted by the Christmas tree lights. Christmas carols in German crackled softly from the record player in the corner and Thorin would change the record every so often. Sometimes he and Dis would share a memory of a long ago Christmas when they were small and they sat in this room with their parents and listened to the same records, but with a few fewer afghans.

Midnight was long past when Thorin had fallen asleep in his armchair and Dis, bleary eyed, had prodded him until he finally got up and lumbered down the hall to his room. Dis made a halfhearted attempt to shoo her sons to bed, but they were drunk on wine, warmth, and family and were difficult to rouse.

Kili, who had drank far more cider than wine, slowly, laboriously, started shifting the blankets off his legs to find his bed, which he knew would be chilled and his pillows cold because the old house had heating that was almost older than it was. He assumed by the silence from Fili’s spot on the sofa that he had fallen asleep before Thorin. Kili thought that he would leave him there, tucked in and peaceful.

“Wait.” Fili’s voice was thick and muffled with sleep. His hand on Kili’s arm was gentle, there was no strength to his grip.

Kili turned to his brother who shifted and dislodged the blankets from about his neck and shoulders.

“Stay with me.” He tugged Kili’s arm gently.

Kili leaned back on the couch and tried to adjust the afghans over his legs again, but Fili pulled him closer and under his blankets so that they share them. Fili was surrounded by warmth that reddened his cheeks. That same warmth turned Kili soft and pliant. He did not really want to sleep in his cold bed in a room by himself.

Fili wrapped an arm around Kili’s waist and pressed his face to Kili’s shoulder.

“I’ve missed you,” Fili said quietly. “I hate sleeping by myself.” His warm breath huffed over Kili’s cheek.

Kili shifted to a more comfortable position, his heart pounding. He nuzzled in closer and closed his eyes. “I’ve missed you, too.”


End file.
